The issue would show up when changing the password using mysqladmin, we're using a bash script to do that. mysqladmin -u root password abc wouldn't work (access denied) and mysqladmin -u root -p password abc cannot be used because it prompts for a password and we need to automate this. mysqladmin -u root -p'' password abc is not working either.
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gAMBOOKaJan 25 '12 at 7:19

Disregard the comment if you read it: It's not working... I was connected to incorrect server. So it's still not working... even with quotes - it's prompting for a password
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gAMBOOKaJan 25 '12 at 7:54

1

then something funny is going on with mysql. Are you running multiple instances mysql on same machine ??? When running multiple instances of mysql, client (eg mysql, mysqladmin) program gets confused as to which server the command is expected to execute for !!
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kajiJan 25 '12 at 8:18